This invention relates generally to an improved data processing system which may be used inter alia with a system for ordering and supplying selected goods and services. More specifically, this invention relates to a portable terminal which may be used in conjunction with a personal shopping system which can be used in both a home of a user and a shopping establishment. The portable terminal can be further used, for example, by health care professionals to track medications and patient status, and by postal carriers to track mail deliveries.
Hand-held computer terminals are well known in the prior art for many different applications, including their use in consumer portable shopping applications. Examples of prior art hand held terminals include the Palm Pilot(trademark) and Sharp Wizard organizer as well as terminals available from Symbol Technologies, Inc., the assignee of the present invention, which is generally describe in U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,717.
Another example of the use of hand held terminals, in the context of a portable shopping application, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,942 to Oosterveen et al. The Oosterveen ""942 Patent describes a system in which an authorized customer is issued a terminal having an integrated bar code scanner to record merchandise purchases. After items are scanned with the bar code scanner, the terminal maintains a record of merchandise selected for purchase by the customer within an internal memory. Prior to exiting the store, the information stored in the memory of the scanner is down loaded through a communication port attached to a terminal dispenser, and a printed ticket of the customer""s purchases is printed on a printer. The customer then proceeds to a check out register where the customer tenders payment for the purchased merchandise. Occasional customers may be audited in order to ensure integrity of the self-service system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,614 to Bianco discloses a method and apparatus for computer-added shopping. A consumer is provided with a hand-held bar code reader and can scan various items at home. The user can order from home over a modem, or can dock the bar code reader in a kiosk at a store, and can then receive a printed shopping list with directions. Yet further, a list of items can be transmitted from the store kiosk to a warehouse for remote picking.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,110 to Green et al. discloses a remote ordering system. A user is provided with a display/processor unit which has an interactive video display for building a shopping list. Information on various products is stored in local memory in the display/processor unit. Communication between the display/processor unit and a central data format/transfer computer takes place when an order is to be placed, or if the locally-available product information needs to be updated or is missing. Communication can be by telephone, fiber optics and the like.
Co-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/866,690 filed May 30, 1997 discloses a portable shopping and order fulfillment system with enhanced ordering and product data profiles, order collection and order fulfillment. The disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/866,690 is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference, as are the disclosures of its parent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/780,023 filed Dec. 20, 1996 and its grandparent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/706,579 filed Sep. 5, 1996.
The prior art self-checkout systems can enhance the consumer""s shopping experience. However, they exhibit certain deficiencies. For example, they may not provide adequate security, or may require cumbersome separate cards for security purposes. Further, prior art systems may not be able to deal effectively with multiple shopping establishments or varying user needs. There currently exists a need for a personal shopping system portable terminal with a convenient security system, and which is capable of enhanced shopping database management.
In addition, there exists a need for a consumer friendly system which is easy to use, provided multiple functions to a user and which can be used for multiple application, including non-shopping related functions without modification. There also exists a need for an improved cradle system for receiving multiple data terminals. The need exists for a field configurable cradle setup with multiple communication protocols, modularity and simplicity of design.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved portable terminal which may be used in a personal shopping system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an improved portable terminal with an enhanced security system.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an improved portable terminal which can be used by a given consumer in both a home and store location, and can perform enhanced shopping database management.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved cradle system which provides modular scalability and multiple communication alternatives.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cradle architecture which communicates with industry standard network architecture and which is held configurable in terms of hardware configurations and communication network setup.
The present invention provides a personal shopping system for combined use in both the home of the user and at least one shopping establishment. The system includes a host computer coupled to a host modem, and at least one shopping establishment kiosk cradle. The system further includes a portable terminal according to the present invention which comprises a two-way data interface configured to read bar codes associated with items related to shopping, and a memory coupled to the two-way data interface for storing data associated with the bar codes. The two-way data interface is configured for data exchange with other data interfaces to be discussed below.
The shopping establishment kiosk cradle includes a kiosk portable terminal-receiving station and a kiosk data interface associated with the kiosk portable terminal-receiving station. The shopping establishment kiosk cradle accepts the data associated with the bar codes from the portable terminal through the kiosk data interface and the terminal two-way data interface when the portable terminal is received in the kiosk portable terminal-receiving station, and then downloads the data associated with the bar codes to the host computer.
A home cradle associated with the home of the user is also provided. The home cradle includes a home portable terminal-receiving station and a home data interface which is associated with the home portable terminal-receiving station. The home cradle also includes a home data transfer circuit which is coupled to the home data interface for data exchange therewith. The home data transfer circuit is configured for data exchange with the host modem. The terminal two-way data interface of the portable terminal is configured for data exchange with the home data interface when the portable terminal is received in the home portable terminal-receiving station. The home data transfer circuit supplies the host computer with the data associated with the bar codes when the portable terminal is received in the home portable terminal-receiving station. The host computer receives the data associated with the bar codes, whether from the kiosk cradle or the home cradle, and stores the data in a shopping list data base.
The portable terminal can contain intrinsic identifying indicia to identify the user to the host computer. The memory of the portable terminal can be configured to store multiple lists of data associated with the bar codes, as multiple shopping lists corresponding to multiple shopping establishments.
The present invention comprises the portable terminal, the portable terminal in combination with the home cradle, and the portable terminal and home cradle in combination with the remaining components of the system, including the host computer, the host modem, and at least one shopping establishment kiosk cradle.
The present invention also provides a method of placing an order for items including at least one of goods and services. The method includes the steps of reading bar codes associated with the items via a two-way terminal data interface of a portable terminal; storing data associated with the bar codes in a memory of the portable terminal; and then transferring the data associated with the bar codes to a host computer for storage in a shopping list database. The transferring step includes the sub-steps of transferring the data associated with the bar codes from the memory of the portable terminal to the two-way terminal data interface of the portable terminal; transferring the data associated with the bar codes from the two-way terminal data interface to a data interface of either a kiosk portable terminal-receiving station of a shopping establishment kiosk cradle or a home portable terminal-receiving station of a home cradle; and then transferring the data to the host computer. The method further includes transmitting identifying indicia to the host computer to identify the user to the host computer; the indicia can be the aforementioned intrinsic identifying indicia contained in the portable terminal. A telephone xe2x80x9ccaller IDxe2x80x9d function can be employed for additional security.
The present invention also provides for an improved terminal design and cradle assembly which may be utilized in numerous applications such as, for example, inventory control, package tracking and health maintenance tracking. The improved terminal provides for improved power management, self-diagnosis, cradle communications and system architecture as well as improved economics and programmability. In combination, the present invention also provides for an improved field configurable cradle assembly which permits the use of multiple terminals at a location and simultaneous data transfers over an industry standard network architecture such as xe2x80x9cEthernetsxe2x80x9d and RS232 serial communication channels. The cradles are programmable to control multiple terminal data communications and may be attached and/or stacked to each other to provide multiple physical layouts at a user receiving area. The cradles may then be used to xe2x80x9csynchxe2x80x9d data through a central station and to transfer data to various destinations.